Local Connections Can Aid Education Transition Woes

One size rarely fits all, and that’s especially true when it
comes to education. Even so, parents across the military —and the country —hope for a
certain level of assistance when it comes to their children’s education.
Especially when they are moving from one state to another.

When this doesn’t happen, it means tough decisions must be
made. And in the case of Navy spouse Julie Shepard, moving without her active
duty husband was the best choice.

From One Coast to the
Other, and Back Again

The Shepards, who have been a Navy family for 23 years and
have two children, moved from Virginia to California, and then quickly back to
Virginia. Shepard’s oldest child moved after her freshman year of high school
in the highly ranked Fairfax County school district. There, she discovered a
love for Latin, a course that isn’t as common in San Diego schools. This was
just the start of the transition woes.

The adjustments the Shepard children faced when moving to
California were the same that other students face when moving. Earlier start
times to the day, six classes a day instead of block scheduling, study hall or
no study hall. Those sorts of things are almost expected. But being waitlisted
for classes because of remote enrollment issues and having five different math
teachers in the first six weeks of school took the Shepard’s transition stress
to a whole new level.

When the local school district in California would not place
one of her sons into the gifted classes, or allow her twice-exceptional son—who
is both gifted and shows signs of learning disabilities—to take the math course
he had tested into in Virginia, she reached out to her local school liaison
officer for assistance.

Shepard had been active in the Parent Teacher Association (PTA) in Virginia, so she jumped in when moving to California. She used the resources she knew about to advocate for her children, like contacting the military school liaison officer and allowing the school liaison to take the lead. In fact, she was told not to try and leverage the Interstate Compact herself.

“I felt like I was given bad advice, and it negatively
impacted how we dealt with the situation,” she said. Because not all advice is
good advice, Shepard encourages all families to keep advocating for their
children, despite hitting roadblocks. Ultimately, the family decided that
moving Shepard and her children back to Virginia was the best choice. Luckily,
orders followed, and her husband was reunited with the family six months later.

Looking Forward

Shepard learned quite a bit about what works and what
doesn’t work during transition, and she’s been hard at work making the process
better for other families. One of those areas is remote enrollment. “Despite
having a signed lease, being residents of the state, and paying taxes, we still had to be there [in Virginia] in
person to pick classes,” she said, which is something that can be logistically
challenging for a military family with high school students who are
transferring credits and choosing electives.

But Shepard says the PTA is a great vehicle to get support
in situations like that. “We shouldn’t just rely on the military’s education
resources,” she says. “Parents need to reach out in to the local communities.”
And Shepard feels the PTA is a good bridge for that. “It helps gives you some
sense of familiarity as it is part of a national organization.” She did just
this when moving to California and it helped. She was able to serve on an advisory
committee as well.

Shepard admits they’ve been very lucky having so much time in the Fairfax County school district. But she thinks schools everywhere could continue to improve their support of military students and others who are transitioning. She has worked with the Fairfax County Council of PTA’s to establish a committee for military families, which she chairs, and she continues to work within the county and state to help improve the situation for all.